Posted
by
Zonk
on Friday January 20, 2006 @03:17PM
from the not-always-a-good-thing dept.

This weekend will see two very different portrayals of gamers by major media outlets. Gamepolitics reports on tonight's episode of Dateline NBC, which will detail a murder plot crafted by an RPG gamer. From the article: "'This is a tough case,' said Dateline correspondent Dennis Murphy. 'There were no forensics. (the police) knew that Brian Trimble was the link, the video-game player locked forever at 16 years old. Blaine Norris had the nerves to do the killing. And they had to get one guy to flip on the other.'. Meanwhile, Sunday's 60 Minutes will feature a piece on professional gamer Fatal1ty. From that article: "Some believe the time is near for video game competitions to become large spectator events. If and when that happens, Wendel will have played an enormous role."

Whenever something "new" becomes popular, there is always a group of people who think the world is going to end because of it. Elvis, television, civil rights (desegregation, etc) and even comic books were demonized and seen as a threat to society, at least by a few people. While their claims may have some merits, it's usually the nutjobs that get all hot and bothered, so you can usually safely ignore whatever they're saying. Eventually, time passes and people get over it.

...with the story? I RTFA and was unable to see any connection other than the media hyping "D & D and Violent Video Games" as some sort of cause or precursor. In reality, I think that it was merely just a coincidence. I may try to catch this just to see the negative spin that is put on games...

Well, I RTFA, and that short piece didn't sound like they were necessarily blaming the game for making him a killer; rather, his obsession with gaming led to conflict with his wife (she "intruded on his gaming time" or something like that) and he conspired with a friend to kill her.

Well, I read the article and came to the conclusion that anybody who is that serious about videogames and gaming shouldn't kill their wives because they were probably the only women who would sleep with them.

Dungeons and Dragons. Satan's game. Your children, like it or not, are attracted in their weaker years to the occult, and a game like D&D fuels their imagination and makes them feel special, while drawing them deeper and deeper into the bowels of El Diablo! This afternoon, the Dead Alewives' Watchtower invites you to sit in on an actual gaming session. Observe the previously unobservable as a hidden camera takes you to the Inner Sanctum of Dungeons and Dragons."Golstaff, you have entered the door to the

Wow, and I thought the D&D is evil stuff died with the 1980's. Well, I guess, as they say, everything goes in cycles. So, when do we get the next book about D&D's evils by a clueless mother who can't accept that he son killed himself? Said book to be filled with half-truths, urban legends and outright lies, which would be par for the course.

Not to worry, the "educational video" Hells Bells is coming out on DVD. [pitchforkmedia.com] A sequel was apparently made, too. Now an entire new generation can learn of the evils of rock and roll music. Too bad most kids are too smart to take that nonsense seriously.

The Sentinel is a piece of shit rag. The Patriot-News is somewhat better, but it's still not great. What they don't tell you about is that although these guys may have been gamers, the area, despite growth, is a bastion of rednecks.

Domestic violence is a big problem. The local government sucks. So, I'm not surprised. So these guys had different interests than going deer hunting. So they get singled out. (Yes, this area still shuts down schools for the first day of deer season.)

The fact that Dateline is picking this up says even more. It wasn't on any real news, just NBC's crappy psuedo-news show. Yeah, play to magic-loving Christological un-educated rednecks!

Just to point out, this is the same basic region in which they tried to ram intelligent design down students'/teachers' throats not so long ago.

Gamers are, unfortunately, a large group without a collective voice. Until we can organize and start lobbying in Washington and get an advocacy group together, we will never be understood by the rest of society. The media will continue to misrepresent us, and society will continue to react out of ignorance. Attacks on gaming like this one will continue, when they should have already ended long ago. We need to educate people about games and show them more stories about people like Fata1ity instead of focusing on the 'morose gamer kills five then self' events.

Of course, the game manufacturers already have a small lobby, but we really need one for the game players. Sure, there are those of us who live in basements and have no social skills, but plenty of us have productive jobs and families. We participate in our real-world communities, some of us go to church, and we contribute meaningfully to society as a whole. Gaming is a hobby for most of us - not the be-all end-all of our lives. This is the face of gaming that we need the public to see. So do we speak up ourselves, or let others decide who and what we are?

What? You have a life outside gaming? How do you fit all of that other stuff in around WoW and Battlefield II? I swear, I barely have time for Slashdot and eating. I've heard nasty rumors about this thing called sleep as well, but I don't know what that is. I think there is something to the rumors about gaming being bad though because I occasionally find my head on the keyboard and I've died.

Gaming will never go national.
I and many of my gaming friends find this kid to anti-charismatic and not the face that will push it to the next step.
Yes, I do think that gaming could be a spectator sport, but it will need a new face.
From what I have seen, Fata1. may be good for gamers to watch but can't help gaming make the next step.
Good luck!

If I had 8 to 10 hours to play per day, I would kick some serious ass also.. alas my real life obligations take away a lot of my game time.. hmmm maybe if I could find someway to get rid of my wife I could play more quake4 DM...

The guy who did the killing in the first example taught one of my Network Engineering classes. He wasn't actually much of a gamer, really. He did do a bit of RPG stuff, but it was a pretty minor hobby for him.
They don't mention that he was kicked out of the Marines for mental problems, but they mention that he was a gamer. Figures.